Tag: OPSEU in the News
-
Buck-a-beer a ‘lousy idea’ for public health, alcohol experts say
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas has already warned that Ontario’s new buck-a-beer policy is a “recipe for disaster.” Now health experts across the province have joined him in sounding the alarm about the potentially tragic consequences of selling cheap suds, calling the policy “lousy” and “shocking.” Read the full article on the Global News website.…
-
Fighting for the future of public health care
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas calls on the people of Owen Sound to stand with the striking family clinic workers in their community who are fighting for “the very future of public health care.” “What will the owners do next to boost their profits?” Thomas asks in the Owen Sound Hub. “Eliminate all the custodians…
-
Low clinic wages hurt everybody in Owen Sound
The owners of the Owen Sound Family Health Organization aren’t just hurting workers with the meagre wages and deplorable working conditions they’re offering. According to an opinion piece by David McLaren in The Owen Sound Hub, the clinic owners are also hurting the entire community. “Minimum wage – even at $15 an hour – is…
-
OPSEU members applaud Ontario PC government’s decision to review closure of seed plant
OPSEU Local 313 hosted a rally and family barbecue on July 21 in Angus in support of keeping the Ontario Tree Seed Plant open and public. CTV New Barrie was there to cover the event.
-
Patients, workers fight ‘Wal-Mart’ health care in Owen Sound
A delegation of striking health care workers and their patients has asked Owen Sound City Council to demand that the owners of the Family Health Organization keep nurses and trained clerical workers on staff. “It’s the Wal-Mart approach” to health care, said 91-year-old Sylvia Moss on the news website Blackburn News. “People in Owen Sound and surrounding area really…
-
Thomas: Owen Sound workers won’t be broken
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas tells The Owen Sound Sun Times that the owners of the Owen Sound Family Health Organization won’t be able to break the workers. “[The owners] are not interested in the deal and they’re going to try and break the union, break the workers. And if they finally figure out they can’t…
-
Opposition health critic demands action on Owen Sound
Official Opposition health critic France Gélinas has added her voice to the growing demands that the government take steps to ensure that public health care is protected from the owners of family health clinics in the province. At Queen’s Park on July 19, Gélinas demanded accountability and transparency from the owners of the Owen Sound Family Health…
-
Owen Sound nursing cuts will hurt patients, says RPNAO
The CEO of the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario says patients will get lower quality care if the owners of the Owen Sound Family Health Organization go ahead with their scheme to eliminate all nursing positions, “They [patients] deserve access to nursing care,” said Dianne Martin in The Owen Sound Sun Times, adding that…
-
Thomas calls on Ford to intervene in health care strikes
Global News reports that Warren (Smokey) Thomas has called on Premier Doug Ford to take action with regards to the ongoing strikes of health care workers in Owen Sound and Thunder Bay. Thomas explains that the team is back at the bargaining table as of July 17: “We’re hoping that this added pressure in Owen…
-
Large rally helps push FHO doctors back to the table
According to reports on Bayshore Broadcasting and in the Owen Sound Sun Times, a large rally of support for the 30 OPSEU Local 276 members on strike from the Owen Sound Family Health Organization has helped bring the doctors who own the clinic back to the table. “We welcome a return to the table as…
-
Thomas links Owen Sound, Thunder Bay health strikes
The website Thunder Bay News Watch reports that OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas is bringing the provincial government’s attention to labour disputes at Owen Sound Family Health Organization and the Port Arthur Health Centre. The website says: “OPSEU believes both disputes reflect poorly on doctors who are pursuing a fee increase from the province.” “The…
-
Grand River members willing to strike for fair pay
The Brantford Expositor and the CBC are reporting that the roughly 110 OPSEU Local 259 members working at the Grand River Conservation Authority in Cambridge are willing to go on strike to back their demands for fair pay. “During bargaining, they’ve been asking for wage increases that would simply bring their pay in line with…
-
FHO doctors ‘bullied, harassed’ striking workers: Bayshore Broadcasting reports
Bayshore Broadcasting in Owen Sound is reporting striking OPSEU members say that doctors at the Family Health Organization are bullying and harassing them. “I think everybody in this community would be shocked that these so-called professionals would use words like this,” said OPSEU Regional Vice President Lucy Morton. “There has been a history of feeling…
-
OPSEU to ‘turn the heat up’ on Family Health owners
During a rally in support of the striking workers in Local 276, OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas pledged to “turn the heat up” on the doctors who own the Family Health Organization. “On behalf of the workers, we will turn the heat up on the owners,” Thomas told Blackburn News. Thomas was joined at the…
-
OPSEU President To Support Strikers In Owen Sound
Bayshore Broadcasting in Owen Sound is promoting OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas’s attendance at the rally and barbecue on June 27 in support of striking Local 276 members at the Family Health Organization. Thomas says these OPSEU members are as skilled and dedicated as any health care workers in the community and is calling on the…
-
Ontario’s Doug Ford orders hiring freeze for public servants
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have put the public service on a hiring freeze and are halting all discretionary government spending until after the party takes office and can audit the province’s books. Read the full article in the Globe and Mail.
-
Public support growing for Owen Sound strikers
The Owen Sound Sun Times reports that many people are supportive of the 30 members of OPSEU Local 276 who are on strike from the Owen Sound Family Health Organization. “What hit me is some people aren’t making as much as other people,” the Sun Times quotes a person who attended the Local 276 rally…
-
Support workers at Trent University celebrate 25 years with OPSEU
OPSEU, which has proudly represented the support workers at Trent University for 25 years, held a celebratory barbeque and tree planting in honour of this important milestone. To see coverage of the event in the Peterborough Examiner, click here. OPSEU local 365 was launched at Trent in September 1993, and today represents more than 400…
-
Durham College to ‘revise and amend’ policy that bans political activity for employees
Durham College has promised to take immediate action regarding their policy banning political activity of employees following receipt of a letter from OPSEU to Durham College President, Don Lovisa, on May 18, 2018. Last week, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) slammed the college, saying it was violating academic freedom and democratic rights after…
-
Owen Sound health workers strike over safety
The Owen Sound Hub is reporting on the strike by the rougly 30 members of OPSEU Local 276 working at the Family Health Organization in Owen Sound. “The nurses worry about patient confidentiality, saying that doctors are using family members and temporary workers to staff their practices,” the Hub writes. “With custodians on the line,…